#HTE

Design Ballendat’s Hyper-Efficient Stacking Chairs, Benches and Tables

The issue with the design of most stacking chairs is that, when stacked, they look like this:

That is to say, each stacked chair nests slightly forward of the one beneath it. That’s fine for homes or offices that only require a half-dozen of these. But for institutions and convention centers that need to provide hundreds or thousands of chairs on demand, then store them away afterwards, parallelogram-shaped stacks are unsuitable.

It is for this latter type of client that Austria-and-Germany-based Design Ballendat created the VLEGS chair for manufacturer, Begasit. 

By manipulating the elliptical-cross-section tube legs into a “technically demanding 60° angle,” industrial designer, Ballendat, has created a self-centering nesting design that’s extraordinarily space-efficient: Some 25 chairs can be stacked in only two meters of height.

The chairs can be linked side-to-side, and fitted with optional armrests.

The armrests do not interfere with the stacking, due to their design:

Ballendat has also created companion tables and benches.

The benches, as you might expect by their legs that are mounted outside the footprint of the seat, stack. But what’s impressive is that the tables also stack. You might wonder how this is possible, since you can see in the photo below that the table legs are recessed beneath the tabletop.

Well, this is how they stack:

Very clever design, and a fantastic example of designing for space efficiency.